Suzanne Held (Moderator)Bristol Veterinary School (University of Bristol)

Plant science considers plants passive organisms, not capable of cognition and behavior. Yet already in 1880 Charles and Francis Darwin had noted that this was an over-simplification. According to Karl Popper (1994), all life is problem-solving. Plant scientists today still maintain that plants perceive and process environmental information automatically, with no neuron-like sensory-motor systems and cognitive processes. Yet evidence is emerging that plants actively sense their environment and have sensory-motor systems that are sensitive to anesthetics. Hence some kind of sentience/consciousness may underlie their responsiveness to their sensory experiences and their capacity to control their plant-specific cognition and behavior.